http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31638526/ns/world_news-europe/
In Viareggio Italy, a gas filled train derailed while traveling through a downtown neighborhood around midnight Monday. The official count is 14 people dead and 35-50 severely burned. The 14-car train was traveling from the northern city of La Spezia. As the train was passing through Viareggio neighborhoods it derailed. A car filled with liquefied petroleum gas sprung a leak. When a spark hit the gas it created an explosion that collapsed five buildings and set fire to a vast area. Homes crumbled or burned, killing residents as they slept. It took 300 firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
The story kept my attention very easily. It is a sad and frightening story. It’s even scarier that the train didn’t just hurt people on board, but that it actually killed people asleep in their homes as well. I think that sending highly explosive cargo through an inhabited area should be questioned and examined more thoroughly to prevent accidents such as this from happening again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
National News
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-30-detroit_N.htm
Tuesday in Detroit, a group of students were waiting at a bus stop 15 minutes after they had been let out of summer school. A group of masked gunmen in a green minivan pulled up and opened fire on the students. The teenagers, four boys and three girls, range in age from 14 to 17 years old. Three of the teens were in critical condition. Two women who saw what happened got out of their car to help.
“Imam Abdullah El-Amin, who co-owns the Numan Funeral Home near the intersection where the shooting took place, said drug-dealing, prostitution and ‘hopelessness’ are common in the area.”
I found this story to not be very surprising. It’s really terrible that stories like this seem so common now. I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw this headline on the USA Today website.
There is really nothing that any innocent students can do to try and prevent this from happening either, especially if “drug-dealing, prostitution, and hopelessness.” It’s terrible that teenagers can’t even stand at a bus stop without worrying that something like this may happen to them.
Tuesday in Detroit, a group of students were waiting at a bus stop 15 minutes after they had been let out of summer school. A group of masked gunmen in a green minivan pulled up and opened fire on the students. The teenagers, four boys and three girls, range in age from 14 to 17 years old. Three of the teens were in critical condition. Two women who saw what happened got out of their car to help.
“Imam Abdullah El-Amin, who co-owns the Numan Funeral Home near the intersection where the shooting took place, said drug-dealing, prostitution and ‘hopelessness’ are common in the area.”
I found this story to not be very surprising. It’s really terrible that stories like this seem so common now. I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw this headline on the USA Today website.
There is really nothing that any innocent students can do to try and prevent this from happening either, especially if “drug-dealing, prostitution, and hopelessness.” It’s terrible that teenagers can’t even stand at a bus stop without worrying that something like this may happen to them.
Local News
http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_181180947.html?keyword=topstory
A fire in Moore happened this Tuesday morning. The blaze took a Moore church and investigators have reason to believe that the fire was intentionally set. Moore Deputy Fire Chief Gary Bird said the Hope Adventist Fellowship Church, 1426 NE 12th Street, is considered a total loss. Firefighters learned about the fire a little before 6 a.m. Tuesday. Twenty-eight firefighters, plus Bird and the fire chief responded to the scene. Bird said there was something suspicious about the fire.
"Police have a possible suspect in custody at this time." An early investigation showed there were two different points of origin.
This story was easy to read. I’m not really sure why someone would want to light a church on fire. Perhaps the person who lit the church on fire practices a different religion and feels very strongly about or maybe the person who did it doesn’t really have a good reason. If police do get enough evidence I am curious to know who did it and what their reasoning was.
A fire in Moore happened this Tuesday morning. The blaze took a Moore church and investigators have reason to believe that the fire was intentionally set. Moore Deputy Fire Chief Gary Bird said the Hope Adventist Fellowship Church, 1426 NE 12th Street, is considered a total loss. Firefighters learned about the fire a little before 6 a.m. Tuesday. Twenty-eight firefighters, plus Bird and the fire chief responded to the scene. Bird said there was something suspicious about the fire.
"Police have a possible suspect in custody at this time." An early investigation showed there were two different points of origin.
This story was easy to read. I’m not really sure why someone would want to light a church on fire. Perhaps the person who lit the church on fire practices a different religion and feels very strongly about or maybe the person who did it doesn’t really have a good reason. If police do get enough evidence I am curious to know who did it and what their reasoning was.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Local News
In Yukon Oklahoma there was an explosion in a motel. Investigators said the explosion may have been caused by a broken valve on a line that feeds a water heater near the laundry room. What ignited the leaking gas is still unclear.
A woman who was 8 months pregnant was in the motel at the time it exploded. The baby was delivered Wednesday and is doing well, but the mother remained in intensive care with 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 25% of her body.
This story caught my eye easily. It is sad and scary that this happened but its good the baby is still okay. It was easy to read, however there was a simple spelling mistake in the second paragraph which bothered me.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20090626_12_0_YUKONI290582
A woman who was 8 months pregnant was in the motel at the time it exploded. The baby was delivered Wednesday and is doing well, but the mother remained in intensive care with 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 25% of her body.
This story caught my eye easily. It is sad and scary that this happened but its good the baby is still okay. It was easy to read, however there was a simple spelling mistake in the second paragraph which bothered me.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20090626_12_0_YUKONI290582
National News
South Carolina’s Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for 6 days, not responding to any texts or calls from law-enforcement officials. Jenny, his wife, assured the AP that he was taking time away from their four boys, ironically it was over Father’s day weekend. The Governor’s office then refused “to discuss specifics.”
When he returned home he informed a South Carolina reporter he was just vacationing in Buenos Aires, where he also later admitted he had been having an affair. At the time Sanford was threatening, much to the chagrin of his own party, to reject up to 25 percent (or $700 million) of South Carolina's share of federal stimulus funds unless the legislature set aside a matching sum of state money to pay down its debt—at a time when the state had the second-highest unemployment rate in the country.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/203480
This article was fascinating to read. It made me want to keep reading because I was interested as to where he had been and what his excuse was. I think that it was obviously a selfish move on his part but it’s good that he at least admitted to what he had really been doing.
When he returned home he informed a South Carolina reporter he was just vacationing in Buenos Aires, where he also later admitted he had been having an affair. At the time Sanford was threatening, much to the chagrin of his own party, to reject up to 25 percent (or $700 million) of South Carolina's share of federal stimulus funds unless the legislature set aside a matching sum of state money to pay down its debt—at a time when the state had the second-highest unemployment rate in the country.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/203480
This article was fascinating to read. It made me want to keep reading because I was interested as to where he had been and what his excuse was. I think that it was obviously a selfish move on his part but it’s good that he at least admitted to what he had really been doing.
International News
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asked Obama for an apology for the statements he made a few weeks ago. The way the Iranians are treating their residents is very cruel and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany feels the same. The demonstrations over the disputed elections in Iran have escalated into violent clashes, heightening concerns about instability in Iran and how to should deal with its nuclear program. Obama accused the Iranian leaders of violating “universal norms, international norms,” saying that the bravery of the people of Iran is “a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice.” He also said that he would not apologize for the statements he has made.
I enjoyed reading this article. Even though I do not exactly know everything that’s going on in the demonstrations, I think that Obama and Merkel are doing a good job by seeing what’s going on and not turning the “blind eye” on it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/world/middleeast/27prexy.html?ref=world
I enjoyed reading this article. Even though I do not exactly know everything that’s going on in the demonstrations, I think that Obama and Merkel are doing a good job by seeing what’s going on and not turning the “blind eye” on it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/world/middleeast/27prexy.html?ref=world
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Local News
Actress Jessica Alba will not have to face any criminal charges for her act of vandalism in Oklahoma City last week. Alba's name is redacted from the police report because she has not been arrested or charged with any crime, said police Sgt. Gray Knight.
Alba was caught gluing large posters of great white sharks in the downtown area. Alba’s cause was to raise awareness of the dwindling population of great white sharks.
She apologized to Oklahoma City and the United Way for her involvement in this incident. The United Way of Central Oklahoma President said the group accepts her apology.
http://www.koco.com/news/19759792/detail.html
This news story had simple language to read. It was clear and easy to understand. It was also much more entertaining since it was about a celebrity. If a regular Oklahoma resident had done this, the story would not have been given such a large amount of media attention. The quotations also help the reader understand how she felt after the incident and how the police felt about it.
Alba was caught gluing large posters of great white sharks in the downtown area. Alba’s cause was to raise awareness of the dwindling population of great white sharks.
She apologized to Oklahoma City and the United Way for her involvement in this incident. The United Way of Central Oklahoma President said the group accepts her apology.
http://www.koco.com/news/19759792/detail.html
This news story had simple language to read. It was clear and easy to understand. It was also much more entertaining since it was about a celebrity. If a regular Oklahoma resident had done this, the story would not have been given such a large amount of media attention. The quotations also help the reader understand how she felt after the incident and how the police felt about it.
National News
This week the Obama Administration will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression. Some business groups have worried that the Obama administration might go too far in responding to the financial crisis with new regulations, stifling the market and hurting financial firms at a time when the economy is still weak.
“The Obama administration has appeared to be more focused on setting new rules and principles than on the blowing up the government's regulatory structure,” said Douglas J. Elliott, an economics fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former investment banker.
On Monday, the Obama administration officials sketched the outlines of the plan. They said it would seek to reduce gaps in regulatory oversight, rein in the use of mortgage-backed securities and other complex derivatives, reduce incentives for companies to take excessive risk and give the government new power to quickly intervene during any future crises.
All the proposals would have to be approved by Congress in a process the administration hopes to complete by the end of the year. The president is to unveil the plan today.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-financial-regs16-2009jun16,0,4262249.story
This story at times was complicated to read. The National and International news stories were much more complex to understand then the local story. I felt like this story was confusing because it gave so many different viewpoints. It was hard to understand what the Obama administration’s main goal was out of the story.
“The Obama administration has appeared to be more focused on setting new rules and principles than on the blowing up the government's regulatory structure,” said Douglas J. Elliott, an economics fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former investment banker.
On Monday, the Obama administration officials sketched the outlines of the plan. They said it would seek to reduce gaps in regulatory oversight, rein in the use of mortgage-backed securities and other complex derivatives, reduce incentives for companies to take excessive risk and give the government new power to quickly intervene during any future crises.
All the proposals would have to be approved by Congress in a process the administration hopes to complete by the end of the year. The president is to unveil the plan today.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-financial-regs16-2009jun16,0,4262249.story
This story at times was complicated to read. The National and International news stories were much more complex to understand then the local story. I felt like this story was confusing because it gave so many different viewpoints. It was hard to understand what the Obama administration’s main goal was out of the story.
International News
The world wide trade in trafficked persons has increased due to the global financial crisis. The state department report was released Tuesday which features data and statistics from 175 countries around the world that shows the amount of human trafficking that goes on within their countries.
The report says, "A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution."
Most of the trafficking is through African countries but a lot of trafficking is happening in the Middle East as well. There are 52 countries on the watch list whose efforts to combat trafficking are inadequate, but they are making efforts to meet the minimum anti-trafficking standards. Next year the United States will also rank its own effort to combat trafficking, along with the rest of the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/16/human.trafficking.report/index.html
This article was easy to read for the most part and it kept my attention. Human trafficking is not something that I hear about all the time and I sometimes forget that things like this are happening in places all over the world. I also had no idea that the United States made 139 arrests and obtained 94 convictions for trafficking in 2008 and this article opened my eyes to what else was happening because of the global financial crisis.
The report says, "A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution."
Most of the trafficking is through African countries but a lot of trafficking is happening in the Middle East as well. There are 52 countries on the watch list whose efforts to combat trafficking are inadequate, but they are making efforts to meet the minimum anti-trafficking standards. Next year the United States will also rank its own effort to combat trafficking, along with the rest of the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/16/human.trafficking.report/index.html
This article was easy to read for the most part and it kept my attention. Human trafficking is not something that I hear about all the time and I sometimes forget that things like this are happening in places all over the world. I also had no idea that the United States made 139 arrests and obtained 94 convictions for trafficking in 2008 and this article opened my eyes to what else was happening because of the global financial crisis.
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